Some old wives’ tales could help predict the weather

A red sky in the morning could warn of coming storms, according to meteorologists and an old wives’ tale: ‘Red sky at night, sailors’ delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors’ warning.’

Submitted photo by Raeford Brown

By KATIE HANSEN Daily News Staff

Published: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 11:00 AM.

Wives’ tales, legends and myths are normally not the source for information in today’s word. But early American farmers observed many things about the weather and the earth and turned them into sayings that seemed to have accurately pointed to recent weather events.

Some still use certain signs — rings around the moon, an angry morning sky, a clap of thunder during the winter — as weather predictors. And weather experts say some superstitions have it right.

A halo around the moon as a warning of rain or snow

The halo around the moon, the gentle white circle we sometimes see resting around the moon on cold nights, is caused by cirrus clouds, according to Dave Samuhel, a meteorologist with Accuweather.com.

Cirrus clouds are made of ice crystals rather than the water droplets that form most clouds. The cirrus clouds sit high in the sky and stretch thinly across the moon — so thinly, that Samuhel said the moon’s light shines through and scatters, creating a halo effect.

“It is true cirrus clouds could be the first clouds to increase in front of a storm system,” Samuhel said. “Usually a winter storm.”

Wives’ tales, legends and myths are normally not the source for information in today’s word. But early American farmers observed many things about the weather and the earth and turned them into sayings that seemed to have accurately pointed to recent weather events.

Some still use certain signs — rings around the moon, an angry morning sky, a clap of thunder during the winter — as weather predictors. And weather experts say some superstitions have it right.

A halo around the moon as a warning of rain or snow

The halo around the moon, the gentle white circle we sometimes see resting around the moon on cold nights, is caused by cirrus clouds, according to Dave Samuhel, a meteorologist with Accuweather.com.

Cirrus clouds are made of ice crystals rather than the water droplets that form most clouds. The cirrus clouds sit high in the sky and stretch thinly across the moon — so thinly, that Samuhel said the moon’s light shines through and scatters, creating a halo effect.

“It is true cirrus clouds could be the first clouds to increase in front of a storm system,” Samuhel said. “Usually a winter storm.”

Most times the clouds will arrive 12 to 24 hours before the rest of a storm.

Samuhel said the cirrus clouds might not be a sign of definite snow, but is a fair predictor that it’s very cold out and that a system is approaching.

Thunder in winter signals snow seven to 10 days later

Another tale that Samuhel said he’s heard several times is that an area can expect snow on the heels of winter thunder.

“I think that’s kind of a North Carolina thing,” Samuhel said, noting that he has seen it work out before, but also seen it fall through.

Samuhel said it is uncommon to hear thunder in winter because there’s not a lot of humidity in the air.

“In order to generate a thunderstorm in the winter time, you need a really strong cold front,” he said. To produce snow, another storm system has to generate right behind that strong cold front.

“There’s no guarantee of that,” Samuhel said. He said the science behind the tale, in his opinion, is “kind of wishy washy,” though he knows people who swear by it.

Samuhel said if the sky is red, it could mean that the sun’s light is reflecting off the clouds and that could mean a storm system is building in the sky and approaching.

“Weather usually moves west to east this time of year especially,” Samuhel said.

So is there some truth to that wives’ tale in his opinion? “Sure,” Samuhel said.

Raeford Brown, host of The Morning Show, a conservative talk radio show on Thunder Country 96.3 in Jacksonville, said he has watched the “red sky” wives’ tale come true many times.

“You know the problem with some of those old wives’ tales?” Brown asked. “They’re not tales, they’re accurate.”

Brown, a boater, said for years he has seen a red sky in the morning indicate bad weather mainly on the water.

“If I get up in the morning and the sky has turned red, it’s a good chance the seas are kicking up and wind is kicking up ... a good sign that the ocean is going to be choppy,” he said.

Another wives’ tale he said many sailors look for and live by are seagulls’ movements. He said the birds tend to know when a storm is coming in, so if seagulls start to move toward land in flocks, “you may want to take a second look at the forecast.”

Melissa Huffman, agricultural extension agent for the Onslow County Center of NC Cooperative Extension, said the Farmer’s Almanac is about 52-percent accurate at predicting the weather, according to a five-year study conducted by a Dr. John Walsh at the University of Illinois.

According to an article on farmersalmanac.com published in November, the Southeast United States’ — including Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida — forecast included “a wintry mix for the Tennessee Valley and heavy rains farther south as January draws to a close.”

The article predicted February would “begin with very unsettled weather, including gusty winds and heavy showers” with things will briefly warming up. “Once the month passes the halfway mark, the weather will turn unseasonably cold,” alternating between warmer conditions until the end of the month.

But the almanac has good news for March, which it says will be milder, beginning with sun and warmer weather.

Huffman said the Almanac is something she suggests people flip through casually rather than actually use to plan on when they plant crops and other activities.

“There is technology out there that is so much better,” she said. Plus, “they write their predictions a year to 16 months before they even put it to print, so how accurate can it even be?”

As for wives’ tales, Huffman said some farmers still talk of the old lore heeding warnings about farming; however, Huffman said most do not rely on the legends to actually do their work anymore.